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Testimonials June 3&4, 2009 - John met us in Gassville on Tuesday night, and directed us to groceries, fishing licenses, and "spirits." After we got stocked, we followed him to our lodge, The White River Trout Lodge, outside Cotter. What a great place to stay! It's beautiful, quiet, and you can sit on the deck and watch the river go by. You can even wade out and fish right in front of the lodge! You can check out the lodge at www.whiterivertroutlodge.com . On Wednesday, John wanted us to get some numbers in the boat. Well, it could have been a 100-fish day, if Pete and I were a little bit quicker on our hook-sets... In all, we landed 53 fish between 13-16 inches. These fish were all fat "footballs." It was a great first day, and we were whipped by the time John pulled into ramp area. The dam was running at 5 units on Thursday, so the water was up about a foot or more. John has spent over 1,000 hours on this river this year, NOT guiding, so he does his homework. It turned out to be the best day Pete and I have ever had trout fishing. We caught 40 fish, lower numbers than the day before, but at least 30 of these fish were between 16-20 inches. I tried to get my hand around a couple of them to get the hook out, but couldn't. Our biggest fish came in the last couple of hours of the day, when John switched us to San Juan Worms. We repeatedly hooked up with heavy fish, landing 2 20-inchers, and breaking off several others in the fast current. Pete had one break off as it bolted up stream - it was right below me, and it would have easily been the biggest fish of the day - i'm guessing 23-24 inches. In all, this was an excellent trip, and I suggest that everyone should fish the White with our guide, John Holsten. John's passion and knowledge of the river were quite evident on Thursday, when we repeatedly witnessed boats, which looked to carry fishermen who looked miserable. We only saw one other boat hooked up with a fish all day! - Mark Hanni & Pete Wonn, Ashland, KY
July 1 & 2, 2010 We had a 12 hour trip to Arkansas and John met us the evening we arrived. He explained about the number of generators that could be running at the Bull Shoals Dam and how we would have to conform our fishing methods accordingly. Since we had a long day of travel, we decided we would head out about 9:00 AM on Thursday morning. John called us on Thursday morning at about 7:30 AM and was very excited. He said that the dam was shut down with no generators running and it was a relatively rare opportunity to wade. So we grabbed our gear and headed for the river. The first day Sandy and I netted 41 rainbows and browns with one that went 20 inches. A number of the fish were between 15 – 17 inches. Sandy had lots of strikes but was having trouble getting the hook set. The next day (Friday), we got a little earlier start. Again, there were no generators running. John worked with Sandy and she started getting the hook set properly. That day we netted 102 fish with 4 in the 19 – 21 inch class. Sandy also had a grand slam that day (rainbow, brown, cuthroat and brook). Finally my wife said that she was tired and was ready to get out of her waders and get a cold drink. I can’t tell you how many fish we lost and I had several that straightened my hook that were very large fish. John Holsten is a superb guide. He really wants you to have a great trip and he rescheduled us several times to try to achieve that. He is a good steward of the resource, pinching down the barbs on the hooks and insisting on using a rubber net, which is less harmful to the fish. We can’t wait to get down there again. Lee and Sandy Troyer, Indiana |
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